The present invention relates to a cutting apparatus and, more particularly, to a woodworking apparatus particularly adapted for forming precise circular and arcuate cuts in wooden boards, planks and the like.
In the cabinet making, furniture making and similar woodworking arts, one of the more difficult woodworking operations to perform precisely is the formation of circular and arcuate cuts in a workpiece with a uniform radius throughout the full circular or arcuate extent of the cut. Of course, in the large-scale mass production of woodwork items, the manufacture of a precise jig or fixture for forming a desired circular or arcuate cut may be justified. However, for many woodworking operations, particularly for example, the custom manufacture of furniture and like made-to-order specialty items, the manufacture of a suitable jig or fixture is not cost-justifiable. In such cases, the formation of circular or arcuate cuts must be accomplished by the relatively crude procedure of drawing a circular or arcuate line in the workpiece to be cut and then cutting along the line by hand, which necessarily produces imprecise results even by the most skilled woodworker.
Various devices have heretofore been proposed to enable the formation of arcuate or circular cuts using conventional woodworking tools. One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,253, as an attachment for a conventional band saw or a like cutting machine to enable the formation not only of circular and arcuate cuts but also elliptical, heart-shaped and various other shapes of cuts. Another such device is disclosed in Wing U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,085, as an attachment to a conventional router template for routing arcuate patterns. However, this device is disadvantageously of rather limited application in that it is not designed for forming arcuate cuts of greater than approximately 180.degree..